The Middle East war carried with it the distressing potential to damage or even destroy the superpowers' recent progress toward detente. Neither the U.S. nor the Soviet Union wanted this to happen, and both seemed determined last week to guard against it. But Washington and Moscow have obligations in the Middle East, and the fear persisted that through a fluke or miscalculation they could be reluctantly drawn into confrontation.
In marked contrast to the 1967 war, both Moscow and Washington initially went out of their way to avoid confrontation. The Russians did not...
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